


I Can't Put You Down

by agoldenshield



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Angst, Fluff, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 18:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11214072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agoldenshield/pseuds/agoldenshield
Summary: The one in which Stiles, a book-loving regular customer at his local Barnes & Noble, and Derek, the new employee, slowly fall in love while managing to be complete dorks about it.Go get a freaking room. But not the storage room, we actually use that for things.





	I Can't Put You Down

Walking in to a Barnes & Noble was like coming home for Stiles. 

The smell of coffee and new pages instantly relaxed his shoulders and made him feel at peace. There were rows upon rows of worlds that he could delve in to, new characters to learn and fall in love with. Sometimes he would pick a random book and sit in a little corner, reading for hours until his stomach reminded him that it was time to take care of himself like a normal human being. But today, he was on a special, super-important mission. The BookTubers Stiles loved to watch had been raving about a new book that was just released. Apparently it was about a band of delinquent kids coming together to take down an underground dragon-fighting ring. And Stiles needed his hands on this book immediately. Because _dragons_. Like, who the hell didn't want to read about dragons? Stiles wanted to ask Carol, his favorite employee, to find the book for him because he knew that if he tried to look for it himself, he would be distracted by all of the other books and end up spending hours reading something else. Stiles walked up to the counter, ready to greet Carol with their exclusive handshake, when he suddenly found himself staring at a male model. **Fuck.** Stiles didn't know that Barnes  & Noble had started hiring male models.

"I'm not a model," Mr. Model said with a slight grin playing on his lips.

Stiles nodded dumbly and continued to stare at the model. Then, he actually processed what was being said to him.

"Oh my gosh. I totally said that out loud just now, right?"

Mr. Model nodded.

Stiles could feel the heat of the red spreading across his cheeks. "Fuck. I'm so sorry, man. I've been told I don't really have a mouth-to-brain filter. Wait, I meant brain-to-mouth filter. I was expecting Carol to be here but she's not and you're here instead which is why I was a little surprised and I've also been told that I tend to ramble a lot when I'm embarrassed so please shut me up before I start saying even more stupid things." Stiles flushed, out of breath.

Mr. Model laughed and Stiles could have sworn that there were harps being played by angels in the background somewhere. Maybe under the counter.

"It's cool, no worries," he said with a frustratingly adorable smile. "Carol's out sick today and I'm filling in for her right now." "My name's Derek," Mr.Model/Derek said while stretching out his hand. "I actually started working here today so I'm still learning all of the ropes."

Stiles leaned in for a handshake and almost shivered at how nice his hand felt wrapped in Derek's. He had large, warm hands that covered Stiles's completely and his handshake was firm and strong. "Alright Stiles," he thought to himself, "maybe let's stop being a creep and thinking about the way his hands feel?"

Stiles found it hard to look Derek in the eyes as he said, "Nice to meet you, man. Ask me anything if you need help. I've been coming here for years now and I help out sometimes when Rodney's running low on staff. He's been trying to get me to work for him for ages."

It was true. Stiles knew the bookstore and how to run it as well as any of the other employees. They sometimes came to him with questions. Rodney, the manager, had been trying to convince Stiles to become a full-time employee for years, but Stiles refused every time. It's not that he had a problem with working here or anything, and he actually really enjoyed interacting with the customers. It's just that he didn't want the place he loved to feel like a workplace to him. This was very special environment for Stiles and he didn't want it to just seem like a job.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I'm sure that I'll have a lot of questions later on, it's a lot to process at once. Was there anything that you needed help with?"

Ah, the book! "Yeah, could you help me find a book? It just came out so I'm not sure if you guys put it out yet. Usually Carol helps me find them because when I use the kiosk machines I end up getting distracted by all the other books."

Derek smiled at that. "Sure, do you know the title or the author?"

Fuck. Stiles had told himself that he was going to write them down. But he had forgotten in his haste to get over here and he couldn't remember what the title was.

"Uh... no. I have no idea. I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to write down the title." Oh man, how embarrassing. Stiles had gotten a few customers like this before and it was always a struggle to help them try and find what they were looking for. ("Yeah, I'm looking for a book with a girl on the cover?" "Oh yeah, let me just type in 'girl on the cover' into the database, and I'm sure we'll find it in no time among the thousands of books that have girls on the cover.")

Derek frowned a little. "Okay... do you know what the book happens to be about? Or what the cover looks like?"

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed in relief. "It has a really cool dragon on the cover, with glowing yellow eyes 'cause that's what the book is about. It just came out, if that helps. Apparently, these kids that all grew up in the same rough neighborhood work together to bust a bunch of bad guys that are running an illegal dragon-fighting ring. Like why would you ever force dragons to fight each other? That's so cruel. You could be flying them all over the world and instead you force them to punch each other in the face?"

If Derek was flustered or surprised at Stiles's sudden outburst, he did a good job of hiding it. He smiled a little smile, one that barely quirked up the corners of his lips, and nodded. "I actually know what you're talking about. I saw those books this morning in the back; we haven't had the time to put them out yet because we got them in late and we're down a couple of employees. Let me go get you a copy, okay?"

Stiles nodded quickly and watched as Derek left the counter and headed to the storage room. He definitely was not giving Derek a once-over. Nope. Stiles's eyes were pure, innocent children. They would never do such a thing. 

After a couple of minutes of Stiles tapping out "Hotline Bling" on the counter with his fingers, Derek re-emerged with a copy of the book and a pleased grin.

"Was this what you were looking for?"

"Yes, my hero!" Stiles exclaimed as he grabbed the book and cradled it to his chest. "Thank you again."

"No problem, I'm glad I could help you find it." Derek reached his hand out as if to take the book back and Stiles pulled away defensively. Why was he trying to take the book back? This was Stiles's baby now. Oh god, had Stiles annoyed Derek so much that he regretted finding the book for him? What game was this guy playing?

"Uh... Stiles? I need to scan the book so that you can pay for it."

"Oh... duh. Sorry about that."

After the book had been paid for, (why can't we just go back to swiping credit cards instead of inserting them?) Stiles was reluctant to leave Derek. The guy was surprisingly easy to talk to and his voice had a nice, deep timbre. But Stiles couldn't find any more excuses to stay and there was an old lady in line behind him coughing conspicuously in annoyance at the wait.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Derek! You'll be seeing a lot of me because I come here pretty often."

"Looking forward to it. Have a great day Stiles, it was nice meeting you." Derek flashed him another one of those baby smiles.

Stiles definitely did not blush at that. Nope. And he also definitely did not hit his thigh on the corner of a table as he was walking out because he was too busy trying to sneak glances at Derek behind the cash register. Absolutely not.

The caramel macchiato he picked up in the cafe before he left tasted sweeter than ever.


End file.
